SOVA - A Tool for Semantic and Ontological Variability Analysis

Variability analysis in Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) utilizes various software-related artifacts, including requirements specifications. Currently, measuring the similarity of requirements specifications for analyzing variability of software products mainly takes into account semantic considerations. This might lead to failure to capture important aspects of the software behavior as perceived by users. In this paper we present a tool, called SOVA – Semantic and Ontological Variability Analysis, which introduces ontological considerations to variability analysis, in addition to the semantic ones. The input of the tool is textual requirements statements organized in documents. Each document represents the expectations from or the characteristics of a different software product in a line, while each requirement statement represents an expected behavior of that software product. The output is a feature diagram representing the variability in the input set of requirements documents and setting the ground for behavioral domain analysis.